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The Intifadas
The Intifadas, New Palestinian Revolts, or Rebellion of New Palestine were a series of four prolonged conflicts with periods of minor aggression and guerrilla warfare in between, ending with the de facto secession of the planet of New Palestine from the United Sol Coalition. They took place between the years 2356 and 2390, a period of 24 years, of which 18 consisted of all-out warfare between the Palestinian-Arabic Liberation Front and United Solar Armed Forces. The conflict was significant in several ways, the first being that it was the first time the USC fought a ground war against other humans. It was also the first time a planet seceded from the Coalition, the first time the USC ever truly lost a war (or series of), and caused the USC to change its tactics from fleets and heavy armor to almost pure infantry, supporting minimal army and supported by a robust, high-tech fleet. History Lead-Up The Intifadas truly had their roots in a series of talks, debates, and think-tank discussions that began in 2351 about how the United Sol Coalition should rule its Colonies, and whether the Colonies would ever be inducted as Provinces into the United Sol Coalition. The media reported on this often, unless the government stifled them, and the public watched these discussions closely, with many agreeing with the sentiment that the Colonies should either be inducted into the USC fully, or, at least, have powers devolved to them, making them semi-autonomous and more like member states. The federal government, however, refused to devolve the powers, and with good reason. They feared, correctly, that the Colonies would probably attempt to use these powers to further the distance between their overlords in Sol and themselves, making them even harder to control than they already were. They had exploited the planets for over a century, and while they had a large population base, resources, and important sites, they were given little representation in the government. Even with this representation, laws had also been placed that lowered the taxes in Sol and raised them in the Colonies, and made it harder for those Colonists to move into Sol and take advantage of the tax rates there. As the people of the USC squabbled over what to do with the Colonies, one man attempted to make something out of the situation. Abdul Israhad, a descendant of the Palestinians and Arabs who had colonised New Palestine over a century ago, raised his voice above the clamor and made his point made: the United Sol Coalition would devolve the powers the Colonies wanted and retain the Colonies in question, or lose them to war and strife. This bold statement was worrying to the government, and, as Israhad gathered followers around him, they decided how they would remove this threat. Abdul Israhad had begun years before the debates formed. In 2343, he had become a journalist, and quickly raised to become a popular public figure. He ignored government warnings and reported things others were too scared to report, and, as his fame grew, so did his protection. The people would know who to blame if he went missing or was found dead, and a botched operation to kill him by NITE could have caused massive public relations damages between the government and its citizenry. So, he was allowed to speak for two years before the government had had enough. In 2345, a purge of journalists was begun by the Dissidence Prevention Office. Federal agents showed up at popular newspaper headquarters and, in no uncertain terms, told them to fire star journalists or be shutdown. The industry's leaders hesitated until the USC made a show of the biggest corporation, the Solar Times. The government reported that the organization had committed massive tax fraud and, with all the forged documents needed to prove it, arrested the staff and shut down the newspaper. The others quickly followed suit. Abdul was kicked out of his job, and he drifted between jobs, eventually settling on New Palestine, where he had grown up. He began a successful political career, and was mayor of the most populous city on the planet, New Jerusalem, by 2349. When the debates began, he used his bold words and previous experience to allow himself to be elected to the position of planetary governor in 2353. With a new-found power base, Israhad started to gather his followers and accuse the government of abuses against the Colonies, corruption, and battering of freedom. He became popular and under the protection of the populace once again, but this time no amount of followers would prevent the Dissidence Prevention Office from silencing him once and for all. In late 2355, the Assassination Division of the Department of Federal Intelligence was given a green light to assassinate Israhad, a mission they had trained for the previous 5 months. Elite snipers of the Coalition Army's Sniper Corps set themselves up around the government building of New Palestine, and waited. Eventually, their target, Israhad and his top advisors, were located outside the building, and the snipers took their shots. Unfortunately for the United Sol Coalition, there were three fatal shots, but four individuals had been targeted. Israhad survived the attack, barely, and The First Intifada Main Article: First Intifada The First Intifada took place between 2356 and 2358, The Second Intifada Main Article: Second Intifada The Second Intifada took place between 2364 and 2367, The Third Intifada Main Article: Third Intifada The Third Intifada took place between 2374 and 2367, The Third Intifada Main Article: Fourth Intifada The Fourth Intifada took place between 2383 and 2390, Aftermath Following the four Intifadas, New Palestine declared itself an independent state, something the Coalition denied. The war cost over eight million lives on either side, including hundreds of USC tanks, fighter aircraft, and even ships. The wars also inspired other revolutionaries and rebels in other parts of the United Sol Coalition, most notably Ceres (the Ceres Uprising, in which the Oort Cloud staged mass uprisings in order to get their share of balance in the Intersystemic High Council), and created a constant drain on USC resources in the form of small occupation zones, resupplied through dangerous cargo runs and fielding some of the only soldiers who would fight there, costly mercenaries. United Sol Coalition Loss The USC definitively lost the conflict, losing millions of troops, billions of solar dollars in equipment, prestige, and the full help of the people. The war was extremely unpopular at home. Decrease in HIGHCOM's Power Previous to the war, HIGHCOM exercised its unlimited power without a care as to what the public might think. However, after 26 years of unpopular war fought only because of HIGHCOM's say-so, the Intersystemic High Council and Council of Ministers accused it of abusing its power. HIGHCOM was forced to agree to not do so again (the agreement was not binding, merely a show of force against the junta), and it decreased its public use of power. Before the outbreak of hostilities, HIGHCOM vetoed many laws and resolutions that the Councils attempted to put into effect. Afterwards, it rarely did so, and only let their Representative make the decision, with the full knowledge that they would be used as a scapegoat if the veto was inappropriate. It delegated more powers to the increasing bureaucracy, Intersystemic High Council, and Council of Ministers, and took less of a publicly active role in USC affairs. Modernization of the Coalition Army, Aerospace Navy, and Solar Marines The reason for the USC's loss was that anti-armor weapons had progressed to a state that almost signaled the end of the tank, which was not particularly fit for the combat it had to endure on New Palestine anyways. The planet was made up mostly of deserts and sprawling metropolises, and the rebels made sure to put heavy anti-tank weapons inside cities, forcing tanks to come in at close ranges where infantry-held weapons could finish off the tanks. This put the USC at a disadvantage as it continued to attempt to use tanks, barely modernized since the Abandonment of Earth, to combat highly mobile infantry. Not only this, but the USC was banned from orbitally bombarding any planets with its fleets, instead being forced to resort to aircraft bombing runs. This was problematic as the few aerospace fighters that could successfully go between space and in-atmosphere flight (something the USC found hard to reconcile until they were well-into the 25th century) were extremely pricey, and many of the anti-tank weapons used were able to train their guns and rockets onto aircraft as well, further exacerbating the problem of air support. By the end of the wars, when New Palestine was a de facto country of its own, the USC had switched its ground forces to a nearly infantry-only force. This was due to the fact that the exoskeletons provided by the military increased unit endurance times significantly, and that infantry were highly mobile and hard to detect. As well as this, the war had turned completely defensive in the middle of the Second Intifada, after which the USC just attempted to hold onto ground as best as it could and launched minimal counter-attacks. New Palestinian Independence After the Fourth Intifada ended, New Palestine declared independence. It started up a government, established its forces more uniformly, and divided the planet into states, even those held by the limited United Solar Armed Forces troops located there. Category:War Category:Event Category:United Sol Coalition Category:United Solar Armed Forces Category:New Palestine Category:Palestinian-Arab Liberation Front Category:Border Wars